Physicist; Dr. Kaku states,Â without a core cooling system working, there has been a hydrogen " steam " explosion at the nuclear power plant.Â He states that the professionals who were addressing the core cooling problem in the reactor, were within a " hairs breadth " of bringing everything under control. But, then the hydrogen steam explosion took place.

Physicist Dr. Michio Kaku, states that Japan Professionals don't know yet, how much core damage there is right now. But, The Japan Prime Minister has announced that the reactor CORE vessel is intact at this point.

Dr. Kaku states, that this means that with the steam explosion,....the uranium " core " is at this point, UNSTABLE. They do not have it under control right now.Â Engineers are trying to address this situation. He says " its a race against time " and engineers who are working on the plant, are " keeping their fingers crossed ."Â The Reactor is degrading. Pressures are building, water levels dropping. Then you have aftershocks adding to the situation. The core could be in the " initial " stages of core problems. And, further, that there is a " tipping " point, and it may not take much considering all these factors, to put the reactor into this phase.

Worse Case Scenario? A colorless steam cloud that contains Strontium, Cesium, Iodine, that is radioactive.Â Dr. Kaku discusses how far out people might try to move to .....to be more protective, if core does melt down.

This physicist explains symptoms of radiation poisoning in people, and what might be in the steam as far as chemicals. He also explains definition of a real nuclear meltdown is.

"It is only the effects our lives produce that give us the right to judge whether what we have done means progress or regression" ~ "It does not matter if you fall down as long as you pick up something from the floor while you get up."

" televised press conference in Tokyo that at 3.36 p.m. today explosion occurred in a reactor of the Fukushima Dai-1 plant and caused the outer wall of the structure containing the reactor to collapse."

"âBecause there was no oxygen in the container, there was no explosion in the container, so there was no damage,â said Edano. âAnd there was no great amount of radiation leaked.â

" The blast destroyed the building housing the reactor, but NOT theÂ :)itself, which is enveloped by stainless steel 6 inches thick.

BUT, " Japanese nuclear agency spokesman Shinji Kinjo acknowledged there were still fears of a meltdown "

Cause of explosion?

" Inside that superheated steel vessel, water being poured over the fuel rods to cool them formed hydrogen. When officials released some of the hydrogen gas to relieve pressure inside the reactor, the hydrogen apparently reacted with oxygen, either in the air or the cooling water, and caused the explosion. "

What are they doing to try to cool reactor?

" Nuclear agency officials said Japan was injecting sea water into the core â an indication, Hibbs said, of "how serious the problem is "

Cancer risks?

Officials have said that radiation levels at Fukushima were elevated before the blast: At one point, the plant was releasing each hour the amount of radiation a person normally absorbs from the environment each year.

" Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said radiation around the plant had fallen, not risen, after the blast. Virtually any increase in dispersed radiation can raise the risk of cancer "

Population near Nuclear Plant trying to leave:

" Around the nuclear plant, where 51,000 people had previously been urged to leave, others struggled to get away.

"Everyone wants to get out of the town. But the roads are terrible," said Reiko Takagi, a middle-aged woman, standing outside a taxi company. "It is too dangerous to go anywhere. But we are afraid that winds may change and bring radiation toward us."

U.S. sending:Â " Eght Navy warships are bound for Japan to render disaster relief in the wake of the catastrophe

Obama pledged U.S. assistance following what he called a potentially âcatastrophicâ disaster. He said one U.S. aircraft carrier was already in Japan and a second was on its way. Washington has also dispatched urban search and rescue teams, according to U.S. Ambassador John Roos.

Current displaced population?

215,000 people were living in 1,350 temporary shelters in five prefectures, the national police agency said.

How many people without electrical power? or Water ?

"Â Since the quake, more than 1 million households have not had water, mostly concentrated in northeast. Some 4 million buildings were without power. "

" âItâs not a fast reaction like at Chernobyl,â he said. âI think that everything will be contained within the grounds, and there will be no big catastrophe.â

In 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded and caught fire, sending a cloud of radiation over much of Europe. That reactor â unlike the Fukushima one â was not housed in a sealed container, so there was no way to contain the radiation once the reactor exploded.

The reactor in trouble has already leaked some radiation: Before the explosion, operators had detected eight times the normal radiation levels outside the facility and 1,000 times normal inside Unit 1âs control room. "

"It is only the effects our lives produce that give us the right to judge whether what we have done means progress or regression" ~ "It does not matter if you fall down as long as you pick up something from the floor while you get up."

" The defence department is working to account for all our military personnel in Japan. US embassy personnel in Japan have moved to an off-site location, and the state department is working to account for and assist any and all American citizens who are in the country."

"The pumps normally obtain electricity from the grid. But the Fukushima prefecture's grid was badly damaged by the tsunami,cutting power needed to cool the fuel rods. Though reactors have diesel emergency generators to provide backup electricity, those at Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 also were apparently damaged by the tsunami. "

The reactors have backup batteries, and operators used them to restore the flow of coolant at the No. 1 plant. But those batteries have a life of no more than about eight hours, experts said.

Officials of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Saturday they had obtained more batteries and may use military helicopters to fly them to the site.

" cooling system must continually pump water from a large pond that surrounds the core through a set of towers that keep the water at a safe temperature. Otherwise, the water will boil off, the fuel rods will melt, and there is a possibility that radioactive material will escape from the reactor's containment dome â a so-called meltdown. "

Another voice heard from:

" "If they can't get adequate cooling to the core, it could be a Three Mile Island or worse," said nuclear physicist Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned ScientistsÂ "

To gain perspective: " According to the industry ministry, 11 nuclear reactors automatically shut down at the Onagawa plant, the Fukushima No.1 and No.2 plants and the Tokai No.2 plant after the strongest earthquake ever to hit the country."

I see from one of your news linksthere is a Huge demonstration against nuclear power going on in Germany [now] as a result of this. YAY!!!

Logged

"It is only the effects our lives produce that give us the right to judge whether what we have done means progress or regression" ~ "It does not matter if you fall down as long as you pick up something from the floor while you get up."

Japan extended radius of evacuation from 10k to 20k around Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Gov't gives recent orders for population to evacuate near second plant:

" Japanese authorities also instructed residents living within 10 kilometers of the Fukushima Daini plant to evacuate, according to a statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency. It was not immediately clear what led to the order. "

wow, I just spoke with the secretary at the temple, the reverend's wife arrived here from Japan today.Dig this! she went to the airport yesterday and was told, all flights were canceled that is when and how she first found out there was a quake!

incredible to think some one on the ground over there would not know

She isn't just anyone, she is the wife of a Nichiren Shoshu Priest who is head of the Temple here in California.

Logged

"It is only the effects our lives produce that give us the right to judge whether what we have done means progress or regression" ~ "It does not matter if you fall down as long as you pick up something from the floor while you get up."

James Acton, a physicist,Â who examined the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant after a 2007 earthquake, told CNN

"The big problem is if it can't cool and the (reactors') core starts to melt -- then you have the possibility of a greater release of radioactivity into the environment," Acton said. If that happens, "there's a possibility of cancer in the long term -- that's the main hazard here."